EPA/ShutterstockPresident Zelensky has said Kyiv’s priorities in peace talks to end the war with Russia are maintaining Ukraine’s sovereignty and securing strong security guarantees.
Zelensky said “the territorial issue is the most difficult”, as Russia continues to demand that Ukraine give up areas of the eastern Donbas region that it still holds – which Kyiv maintains it will never do.
He was speaking after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, where he joined a call with European leaders including those of the UK, Germany, Poland, and Italy.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian and US negotiators finished two days of meetings in Florida as they worked to revise a peace plan viewed as favouring Russia.
The White House struck a positive tone on the talks on Monday, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying the administration “feels very optimistic” about a deal being reached to end the war.
Zelensky was more circumspect, posting on X that the talks were “very constructive” but there are “some tough issues that still have to be worked through”.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who attended the talks with the Ukrainian delegation, is now bound for Russia where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. They will be joined by President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.
Witkoff has spoken with Zelensky, Macron, Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and is expected to relay the result of the discussions to Putin.
Last week Putin said a draft peace plan had been shown by the Americans to Russia, and that it could become the “basis” for a future agreement to end the war.
The initial US-Russia draft peace plan circulated in November sparked consternation in Kyiv and around Europe.
As well as being heavily slanted towards Moscow’s demands, it also dictated how several billions’ worth of frozen Russian assets currently held in European financial institutions should be invested and dictated the terms of Kyiv’s access to EU markets.
But Macron said there was currently “no finalised peace plan to speak of”. He also insisted that any such proposal could only be worked out with input from Ukraine and Europe.
European leaders have been scrambled to get a seat at the negotiating table since the peace plan was leaked, and have urged the US to involve them in drafting any future agreement.
Macron said that the territorial question could “only be finalised by President Zelensky” and pointed out that issues of frozen Russian assets, security guarantees, and accession to the EU needed to involve European nations.
But the French leader also praised efforts by Donald Trump’s administration to end the conflict, which began in 2014 with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and was followed by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“Now we are waiting the Russian answer: are they ready to stop fighting and make peace? I want to point out that for three, four times the Russians have said no,” he added. “So they don’t seem in a rush.”
Throughout the year Moscow has appeared to engage with US attempts to end the war or discuss a ceasefire, but several of its demands directly counter Ukraine’s sovereignty and are seen as unacceptable by Kyiv.
While the question of territory is the major sticking point, the issue of security guarantees for Kyiv has also proved contentious.
Kyiv and its European partners are keen for Ukraine to be given security guarantees – such as Nato membership – that would protect it from being attacked again.
But Russia vehemently opposes this and Donald Trump too has ruled out allowing Ukraine to join the military alliance.
Away from the negotiating table, the war continues.
On Monday morning a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed four people and injured 40, authorities have said.
Unconfirmed reports say a ballistic missile was used in the strike.
Videos shared online showed a large explosion occur on the side of a motorway, and local media said an office block, cars and shops were hit or badly damaged.
“We are trying to end this war with all our might and to end this war in a dignified manner,” Zelensky said in Paris.
“Russia must end this war that it started, it is its war and it is up to it to put an end to it.”
The latest diplomatic push comes as Zelensky is mired in a serious corruption scandal. His chief of staff Andriy Yermak, who had also led the Ukrainian delegation at peace talks, resigned on Friday after anti-corruption investigators raided his home – although he has not been accused of wrongdoing. Two cabinet ministers have also been fired.
On Sunday Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Ukraine had “some difficult little problems”, referring to the scandal, and repeated his view that both Russia and Ukraine wanted to end the war.
